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Hiring a household employee is not easy. There is much to know and much to do. Your personal network of contacts, professional recommendations, newspaper advertisements, or the internet are all available sources that help families find their nanny or other type of household help on their own. But first, before taking any steps to hire someone to work in your home and care for your loved ones, be prepared. Know what you are getting into and budget your time and money accordingly.
This worksheet will help you figure out the real cost of hiring a nanny or other employee on your own.
The Real Cost of Hiring on Your Own (click for printable version)
|
Do It Yourself Hiring Task |
COLUMN A: Hours it would take (suggested hours) |
COLUMN B: Value of your time*, per hour |
Total cost of your time, multiplied by number of hours to complete task (column A x column B) |
| Time invested in preparing job description and advertisement. | __________ hours (e.g. 3 hours) | $_________ per hour | $_________ |
| Time taken to perform background checking. | __________ hours (e.g. 10 hours) | $_________ per hour | $_________ |
| Time to select 10 candidates for phone interview. | __________ hours (e.g. 2 hours) | $_________ per hour | $_________ |
| Time to prepare interview questions. | __________ hours (e.g. 2 hours) | $_________ per hour | $_________ |
| Time to schedule and phone interview best candidates. | __________ hours (e.g. 5-10 hours) | $_________ per hour | $_________ |
| Time to arrange and conduct home interviews of 3 most desirable candidates. | __________ hours (e.g. 5-10 hours) | $_________ per hour | $_________ |
| Time to schedule and phone previous employment and educational references. | __________ hours (e.g. 3 hours) | $_________ per hour | $_________ |
| Time taken to make job offer and prepare rejection letters for unsuccessful candidates. | __________ hours (e.g. 1 hour) | $_________ per hour | $_________ |
| Time to prepare work agreement. | __________ hours (e.g. 5 hours) | $_________ per hour | $_________ |
| Time to research salary, tax, insurance compliance information. | __________ hours (e.g. 5 hours) | $_________ per hour | $_________ |
| Time to research employment laws relevant to location and type of work. | __________ hours (e.g. 3 hours) | $_________ per hour | $_________ |
| Time to investigate human resources information and personnel policies. | __________ hours (e.g. 2 hours) | $_________ per hour | $_________ |
| Time to research all necessary legal, tax, insurance, and payroll forms for hire. | __________ hours (e.g. 5 hours) | $_________ per hour | $_________ |
| TOTAL | __________ hours (e.g. 61 hours) | $_________ per hour | $_________ |
*To calculate the value of a stay-at-home spouse when using this worksheet, salary.com estimates that a stay-at-home parent with two preschool children has a national median salary of $115,431 per year. Divided by 52 weeks, divided by 40 hours, this is approximately $55 per hour.
Please note that if a household employer does not want to invest all the time calculated above, working with a household employment agency to hire an employee will save a lot of time, as will working with a household payroll company like GTM when it comes to knowing the relevant tax and labor laws and handling the complicated payroll and tax process.
For more information, contact GTM’s Household Employment Experts at (888) 432-7972.
